Medic
by MontyBeth
Summary: The Castle sets down on Taksgar to recalibrate, but the Yellow Lion plants a vision of a human girl far away from Earth in Hunk. This leads to the discovery of the Daughters of Altea, a group of five young women who were said to harbor the souls of the Lions of Voltron when King Alfor sent them away. But who is this girl and what is her connection to the Yellow Daughter?
1. Chapter 1

"It looks like the gravity supports are decalibrated." Coran announced from the control room, his posture decidedly lopsided.

Everyone was lopsided, actually. Earlier that morning the Castle had suddenly tilted, sending everyone's breakfast to the end of the table and on to the floor. Pidge had lost her balance and slammed into Allura, causing greater panic, particularly from Hunk, who was mourning the lost of his breakfast as well.

Once that fiasco had been settled, it became apparent that the castle wasn't shifting itself back. An uncomfortable few hours passed before Coran and Allura could indentify the problem.

"Fixing this will require landing on a planet," Allura stated, scrolling through the hologram map in the pilot room.

"Any planets that'll be cool with this giant thing landing there?" Lance asked from where he was seated. He was sprawled in his seat, feet pressing against the control panel to keep him from falling forward. Most of the other Paladins had taken up similar stances. Shiro was gripping the sides of his seat to keep from sliding forward, and Pidge had gathered her knees underneath her chin to keep her center of balance low. Kieth was leaning against the wall, his arms folded across his chest. He looked as calm and collected as ever, despite the urge he felt to fling out his arms like a tightrope walker to stay steady. "Some sort of space airport or something…"

"Or any uninhabited planets." Hunk suggested. He had given up on trying to keep his balance, and settled on sitting cross legged on the floor.

"I'm afraid not, Hunk." Allura replied. "there are three planets nearby…" she flicked her wrist to zoom in on the planet cluster. "...but two of them are solely composed of gas."

Pidge pushed up her glasses. "Can't we use the teleduv to travel somewhere that we could land the castle? Like Arus?"

"Traveling crooked through a wormhole isn't something I'd like to try," Shiro admitted, his thick eyebrows knitting together.

"Yeah, I second that." Lance announced.

"Well thought, number one!" Coran replied over the com. "The force of traveling at an angle through a wormhole could rip the Castle apart!"

The weight of Coran's sentence sat eerily on everyone's shoulders, until Lance cleared his throat. "So…"

Pidge shakily stood from her chair. "I'll see what I can find out about the creatures that live on… what was it called?"

"Taksgar." Allura replied. "Let's hope they're friendly."

"Hey Pidge." Shiro greeted as the rest of Team Voltron stepped slowly into the room where Pidge had barricaded herself with her computer. She was going through the Castle's library, sprawled out on her stomach. She looked up when Shiro said her name.

"I found some general info on Taksgar. They're a sentient race for sure, but it just doesn't seem like they interact with other cultures. I did find a sketch of a famous Taksgarrian leader though." She tapped at her screen, pulling up a sketch of a tall humanoid with four arms. The arms were massive and muscled, so big that the sinewy goat-like legs didn't seem to be able to support them. The Taksgarrian's forehead caved in, and the back of the head jutted out, presumably to encase the brain more fully. No nose was visible, just slits.

Despite the intimidating structure of the alien, there was a pleasant smile. Everyone just stood in silence for a moment. "He looks… strong." Hunk muttered.

Pidge glanced at him. "The males are probably bigger. That's a she."

Allura let out a breath. "Hopefully Coran and I can fix the castle before any of them notice us."

When the Castle settled down onto the planet, all the Paladins were on their guard. They had seen the strength of the Taksgarrian in the sketch Pidge found, and they didn't want to face any.

Keith and Shiro were outside the castle, while still keeping inside the protective barrier. If any aliens came close to the castle, they'd catch them before they could get close.

Inside, Allura and Coran got to work on repairing the gravity supoorts. Pidge, Hunk and Lance were standing by in their lions, should anything go wrong.

 _My Paladin._

Hunk jumped. That was a voice.

Inside his head.

"Um… guys?"

Pidge and Lance gave a simultaneous "what."

"I think my lion's talking to me." Hunk stammered.

Lance's video feed popped up on Hunk's dashboard. He cocked an eyebrow. "Blue talks to me all the time, doesn't Yellow?"

Hunk placed a hand on Yellow's console. "These were… _words,_ man. He's never done that before."

Pidge's feed popped up too. "Then listen." She stressed.

And so he did. Turning off both feeds, he placed both his hands on the console and closed his eyes. "What are you trying to tell me?" He asked.

"Shiro-" Kieth's voice dropped to a whisper, and he pointed his Bayard towards the edge of the field they landed in, about 50 yards away. Beyond the field were tall black and white trees, and Keith had spotted a shadow moving in between the trees. Shiro's hand began to glow, and he took a protective stance.

"Wait!" Something called from the trees. Shiro relaxed his stance, and Keith lowered his Bayard just a little. "I come in peace?"

From the trees stepped out a Taksgarrian like the one they'd seen earlier. It's arms were less toned than the one in the sketch, and it seemed shorter, but otherwise it was clearly the same species.

"My name is Andop." He stated. "Can you understand me?"


	2. Chapter 2

My paladin. The voice in Hunk's head- his Lion- called again.

"I'm here, buddy." He murmured.

He was overcome with feelings of fear. Of anxiety, of dread. The feelings weren't his though, Hunk had certainly had his share of being terrified, but these feelings were someone else's. It was like when he had seen through Yellow's eyes for the first time. But these weren't Yellow's feelings.

As suddenly as they had come, they ended. Hunk realized he'd been crying.

Video feeds of all his teammates (sans those outside) stared back at him from the dashboard. Allura had some sort of oil in her white hair. "Hunk, what was that?" Lance asked, his thin eyebrows raised.

 _Find her_. Yellow demanded.

"Yellow wants me to find someone. There's someone on this planet, super scared. I felt what she was feeling, she was terrified, man. We gotta help her." Hunk wiped away the years that had gone down his cheeks. "These are like, her tears."

Pidge's brow furrowed. "There's 14 million Taksgarrians on this planet. Assuming there's a 50/50 split between genders… that's a lot of girls."

"Not even cute girls." Lance grumbled.

Coran twirled his moustache. "Well, Hunk, if your Lion told you about this girl, I'm sure there's more info in it's databanks. Just keep asking!"

Outside the castle, Shiro stepped to the barrier of the shield, keeping inside of it. "Yes, we can. I'm Shiro, this is Keith. We're here to fix our ship." Shiro replied, placing his good hand on Keith's wrist so he'd lower his Bayard.

"How badly damaged is your ship? Perhaps we can help." Andop offered, walking closer to both paladins.

"We?" Keith asked.

"Yes, you have landed close to our city. It's just beyond that forest." Andop turned to study Keith, with a warm light in his eyes. It made Keith uncomfortable, it was like a parent deciding whether or not you could play with their child. "I've been instructed to take you to the Mayor, he'd like to meet the travelers. Should they have proven friendly, of course." He smiled at them.

Shiro nodded. "I think that'd be alright, Andop. We just need to talk with the rest of our team." He activated his comm, turning away from Keith and Andop.

"Yellow, got anything else?" Hunk begged. He'd been trying for the last 15 minutes, to no avail. Yellow hadn't offered any other promptings.

"Hey, Team." Shiro's voice popped up in all the Lions, startling Lance, what had been leaning across the pilot chair. "We've got a visitor, he seems friendly. He wants us to meet the Mayor. What do you think, Allura?"

Allura thought for a minute, wiping the grease from her hair. "Take the other paladins with you, Keep your armor and weapons as well." She looked at her hands, which were covered in oil. "I'm not really in a state to be meeting representatives, but perhaps once the Gravity Supports are calibrated."

"And see if they have any Calibration tools!" Coran added. "I think I just broke one. They don't keep for 10,000 years."

With a whoop, Lance jumped from the Blue lion. "Do you think they'll throw a banquet for us? Heroic space travelers…"

Pidge snorted. "Weren't you just complaining about how these alien girls aren't cute?"

"I'm not going to answer that." Lance replied curtly, spinning on his heels to face Hunk. "Dude, what's wrong with you? You'd get excited about banquets usually."

"I dunno, Lance. Yellow really wants me to find that girl." Hunk gave Yellow a pat. "But I don't have much to go on."

 _You'll know._

"I'll know her when I see her, I guess." Hunk sighed. "I really want to help, but Yellow's not making this easy."

Andop bowed to the Paladins as they approached, which given the goat-like legs Taksgarrians possessed, was a slightly funny sight. He had to step forward to be able to keep his balance. "We're honored by your visit, travelers. Who are you?"

"Well, you've already met Keith and I, and these are Pidge, Hunk and Lance." Shiro introduced them one by one, and they each bowed in turn. "We are the Paladins of Voltron."

"If you'll follow me, I will escort you to the Mayor. He's very excited to meet you." Andop smiled warmly and gestured to the trees.

"So, Andop…" Lance shuffled past Keith to stand by the Taksgarrian as they broke through the trees. "What sort of… welcoming can we expect from the city? A press conference or… a party… a party would be great."

Andop chuckled. "You Paladins have chosen an excellent time to arrive. We are in the middle of the Family Festival, you can see the banners from here." He pointed with one of his massive arms, and sure enough, colorful streamers could be seen through the black and white trees.

Andop frowned. "I apologise, do the Paladins have families? I don't know if it's a concept only Taksgarrians have."

Pidge shook her head. "No, we do. We're just far away from them right now." She clenched her fists. "The Galra took my family."

Andop nodded sadly. "We lost many to the Galra as well, long ago. But our planet does not have many resources that the Galra want, so they only come every once in a while."

Keith let out a breath. "Good. We don't want to run into any Galra if we can help it."

The city was impressive. Foreign vehicles traveled around, floating above the stone-lined street. Buildings of red stone were packed close together, with storefront windows being protected with mini force fields. Taksgarrian children, looking not unlike strange bipedal goat kids, stared at the strangers as they approached the Mayor's home.

"Mayor, I've brought the travelers." Andop announced, knocking on the door of his home. The door slid up, and Andop gestured them in.

The Mayor was clearly older than Andop, and had a bit more of a slouch. Andop seemed to be a young adult, but the Mayor was easily middle aged, however long that was for a Taksgarrian.

He gestured for them to sit down. "So you are the travelers that landed just outside the city. I'm the Mayor of this fine city. I do my best to keep it safe, no naturally when you landed I sent Andop to assess the situation. But you seem like sensible aliens."

Shiro laughed awkwardly. "Thank you? We're here repairing our ship. Two of our friends are still there recalibrating the…"

"Gravity Supports." Hunk filled in.

"Gravity Supports, yes."

The Mayor scratched his chin with one of his four arms. "Any way we can help? I'm sure we have a calibration kit somewhere." He pushed up from his chair, and began opening cupboards and drawers in the walls.

"I know where it is." He mumbled. "Daughter!" He called. He turned to the Paladins. "She's a little strange, my daughter, but try not to stare. She's jumpy."

"Strange how?" Lance asked.

The Mayor never got to respond, because his "daughter" had arrived. She stepped into the room, and immediately the jaws of all five Paladins dropped.

She was human.

There was no doubting it. She had light brown skin and heavy features. Her hair was braided to the side, but unruly wisps of curly hair escaped to frame her face. She wore an outfit similar to Andop's, a black long sleeve shirt with red shoulders, underneath what appeared to be a short apron made from some sort of leather. Looking closer, one could see where the second set of armholes had been seen shut. She saw the Paladins staring and bowed her head.

"Yes?" She asked.

"Daughter, the calibration kit, where is it?" The Mayor asked.

She moved quietly to the corner of the room, opening a drawer and retrieving the small orange box. "Sir." She held it out to him.

"No, for the black Paladin."

She turned, and handed it to Shiro, avoiding eye contact. Shiro took it gently. "Thank you."

The other Paladins looked to Hunk, who nodded. It was her. The girl with so much fear.

"Daughter, don't you have some preparations for the festival?" The Mayor added, and the girl left just as quietly as she'd come.

"Isn't she helpful?" The Mayor laughed. "Such an odd creature. Perhaps she shares some of the same genetic makeup as you Paladins from Voltron. Of course, lacking the natural armor."

The Paladins looked to one another. There'd been a miscommunication somewhere. Paladins of Voltron. The Mayor thought Paladin was their species, Voltron their planet.

"Although, she does have an incredible healing ability. Speaking of which, were any of you hurt in your landing? I'm sure my daughter could assist."

Lance quickly raised his hand. "Yes, I uh… did something here. A bad number." He pointed to his left ankle. "Hurts like crazy, I definitely could use your daughter's assistance for sure."

The Mayor called his daughter back. "The Blue Paladin has some injuries. Tend to him."

Keith stood. "We'd all like to come, if that's alright. Who knows what other scrapes we could have taken, it's best if we all could get checked out." He tried to look into the girl's eyes, to catch a glimpse of her intentions. Did she know they were human? But she continued to stare at the floor, only offering a quiet. "Come with me."

Once they had entered what appeared to be her exam room, with jars of herbs and long lists, she closed the door behind them. She looked up at them. "Are you human?" She whispered.

They all nodded.

"Don't let them know."

Author's Note: heyo! Finally covered the actual plot here. I will give the "daughter" a name, don't worry. How am I doing with keeping the characters in character? I think I struggle most with Keith, but I'm trying my best. Send me some reviews please!


	3. Chapter 3

"Us?" Pidge demanded. "Forget about us, what about you?"

The Mayor's daughter nodded, moving around the room to collect supplies.

Lance's hands balled into excited fists. "Pidge is right, tell us about you! Are you the only human here? Are there others?"

"And how did you end up so far from earth?" Keith added.

She started to put the bandages and bottles away. "I don't know anything, I'm sorry. I was born here."

"What about your parents?" Hunk offered.

"They died."

"How?" Keith demanded.

"I don't know."

"When?"

"I don't know."

"How did they get to this planet?"

"I _don't know._ "

"Do you know _anything?_ " Keith was standing now, his fists clenched.

She flinched.

"Keith!" Shiro reprimanded him. "Let's try something else. What's your name?"

She began to dig through cupboards, keeping her body angled towards them. "I'm just the Mayor's daughter. Nobody calls me anything else."

"You don't have a name?" Lance asked, his eyebrow arching to a angle a geometry teacher would have been proud of.

"Of course I do." she responded. "But the Mayor took me in, I'll respect his wishes to call me his daughter." She came to where Lance was, kneeling down to hold his ankle in her hands. Lance began to protest, which she ignored. "Names are powerful things on Taksgar, Paladins. To know someone's name means respect."

"Andop told us his." Hunk offered.

The Daughter smiled slightly. "Andop is a very trusting person. I'm... not as trusting." She let Lance's ankle fall from her hands, aware now that the entire endeavor was a ploy to talk to her.

"We're the good guys though!" Lance insisted. "Besides, you know our names."

She ignored Lance. "Are any of you actually injured?" Her voice never changed volume - which was quiet - just the urgency behind it.

Sheepishly, they all shook their heads. The Daughter stood, brushing off her pant legs. "Then I advise you leave."

Apologetically, the Paladins filed out, Keith, then Shiro, Pidge and Lance...

as Hunk approached the door, the Daughter stopped him.

"It's Elane." she whispered, her dark eyes darting around the room. "Come to the festival tomorrow. I will find you."

With that, she turned her back on him and began to put away the supplies she hadn't used on Lance.

Hunk stood stunned for a second. She'd completely turned around once the others had left. Elane. That was her name. "Thank you." He said finally, as Keith called him from outside.

"Hunk, let's go!"

"Er... I gotta go."

Elane turned to watch him go. She'd taken a risk, telling him her name. But something... trusted him. More than the others. _Although,_ she remarked as she rewound the bandage. _The others aren't awful._

"What did you tell them?" The Mayor was behind her. In her contemplating she hadn't heard him open the door.

Her shoulders bunched around her ears. "The... blue one, he had an ankle injury."

He brushed past her, examining the jars she hadn't put away. His eyes drifted to the bandage still in her hands. "A injury that didn't require a bandage?" He hissed.

She faltered. "I... he..."

"He faked it to talk to you, didn't he?" He was too close to her face now. She could see his teeth, feel his breath.

"Y-yes but I didn't say anything!" she insisted.

He backed away a little. "What did they ask you?"

"They thought it was weird that a human was on Taksgar, they wanted to know..."

"And you didn't tell them?" The Mayor asked again.

"I didn't."

"Didn't _what?"_

"I didn't tell them my story."

A pause. Her fingers began to shred the cloth bandage, and she forced herself to stop.

"Good. You're a good girl, you know that, my daughter? I work so hard taking care of you, I work myself sick. And you would never leave me sick alone, now would you?"

"No, sir."

"After all, no one would take care of you! Poor girl, alone. Why, you're hardly smart enough to..."

And so it began again, the routine of reassurance. The Mayor would express his gratitude after his outbursts, she'd insist she'd never leave him...

So why did she end up feeling so awful afterward?

"Elane? Pretty name." Lance remarked.

"Yeah, but why'd she tell you? Why not us?" Pidge pondered.

"Well, you are the kindest person on the team. Maybe she recognized that." Shiro offered, parting Hunk on the shoulder.

"Well, I'm surprised she gave us anything at all, after Keith started yelling at her." Lance reminded everyone, leaning towards the red Paladin.

Keith's face screwed into a pout. "She was answering everything with 'I don't know'! This girl is hiding something."

"Hunk?" Shiro asked worriedly. He hadn't reacted to his earlier statement, nor anything his teammates had said.

"What? Huh- oh. Sorry Shiro, I was thinking about Elane. If she was the girl Yellow wanted me to find... are we like, supposed to rescue her or what?" He sighed.

"Yeah, Keith's on the 'or what' train. He spent 15 minutes with her and she freaks out." Lance called.

"I didn't do it on purpose!" Keith insisted. "The Mayor was right, she's jumpy."

"But why?" Hunk demanded of no one in particular. "She was terrified when Yellow showed me her memories, and she flinched when Keith started yelling..."

"...it wasn't yelling..." Keith muttered.

"... and she's the only human on the planet. I think. Did she answer that?" Hunk asked, once again, of no one in particular.

"Maybe something happened with her parents." Pidge offered.

"Well, whatever it is, we'll find out tomorrow at the festival." Shiro concluded.

"Yeah, on our date with Elane." Lance quipped.

"Lance, it's not a date." Pidge groaned.

"It is. Kind of."

"She's a mystery! Possibly someone who needs rescuing." She corrected.

"Pidge, I have been in space for... who knows how long... and my last date ended with me tied to a tree and a cute girl stealing my lion! I need at least _one_ good date in space."

 **A/N: Introducing Elane! That scene with her and the Mayor was kind of hard to write at first, but I hope it portrays the right amount of threatening. (Syntax? IDK.) Anyhow, thank you for reading and please review!**


	4. Chapter 4

Allura dried her hands on her skirt, grimacing as she realized what she'd done. "Well, that was my fourth best dress anyway. Now, tell me more about these Taksgarrians."

The Paladins had made their way back to the Castle, where Coran had prepared the usual food goo.

"Pretty nice. Hunk found his girlfriend though." Lance quipped, stuffing his face full of food goo. "Wow, I didn't even realize how hungry I was."

"Yeah, Taksgar has a synchronous orbit so it never gets d - " Hunk stopped himself. "Hey! She's just a girl that my lion gave memories of!"

"Well she clearly likes you if she gave you her name." Lance argued.

Allura sighed. "Shiro, what can you tell me?"

Shiro blinked and swallowed the mouthful of food. "She's human, for starters. There's no other humans on the planet,"

"Or so she says." Mumbled Keith, poking at his plate.

"...lives with the Mayor, and her name is Elane. Not very talkative,"

"She avoided every question we asked!"

Kieth added.

"...and she works as some sort of medic." Shiro glanced at Keith, who fell silent.

Allura pouted a little. "This is definitely strange, but not something unheard of. People all over the galaxy take in alien refugees. Surely this Elane is among them."

Pidge shook her head. "Allura, the time it would take for someone to get out here from earth with our technology would be... hundreds of years. It took my dad nine months to get to Kerberos."

Everyone pondered this for a moment.

"Well, we're meeting her tomorrow. Maybe she can tell us more then." Shiro stood, taking his plate in one hand. "I'm gonna go spend some time with Black."

Coran nodded at Hunk. "Going by how your lion seems to want you to go after this young lady, perhaps it would be wise for you to talk to the yellow Lion as well."

The other Paladins watched as Shiro and Hunk left. Lance leaned back, putting his hands behind his head. "So I know I totally lied to get to talk to Elane, but do you think I've still got a shot?"

Pidge groaned audibly and hit her head on the table, making Allura jump.

"Hey Yellow." Hunk entered the hangar, raising his hand as though he were greeting a friend.

Yellow purred back, and Hunk smiled. Rather than climb inside to pilot it, he sat cross legged in front of it.

"Hey buddy. I found the girl you sent me to find, Elane."

Another purr.

"She's really smart, I guess. She's got this whole crazy medical station set up in her garage... or I guess it's the Mayor's garage... if it _is_ a garage." He reached up to pet Yellow's nose. "But now that I found her, what do I do?"

Without warning, Yellow roared. A deafening roar that made Hunk shield his ears and slide back a little.

And then, a vision.

 _Five teenagers in Altean dresses walked down a hallway._ _They were varying heights, different shapes, different skin tones._

 _They each had their own personality, evident in the way they carried themselves. One carried herself daintily, but with a fierceness. She had orange hair, cut into a long bob. Her dress was a deep orange, with silver trim. It trailed behind her as she went, her lips sent into a straight line underneath dark blue markings and flashing green eyes._

 _Another practically strutted, shoulders back and a grin on her face. Her hair was pink and fluffy, she'd tied it up into a thick braided bun. Her eyes were a pale blue, almost translucent. It contrasted sharply with her deep brown skin and dark blue dress._

 _A tall girl with a skinny face and slight figure had her arms folded against her chest, and took surprisingly solid and even steps. Her skin had a reddish hue to it, but was very much concealed by her wavy silver hair. Her eyes were the most striking feature about her, amber colored with flecks of green._

 _The shortest one had long, straight white hair. She wore a purple dress that matched her eyes and had red face markings. She tried desperately to keep in step with the tall figure beside her._

 _Allura._

 _The short girl was standing by Allura._

 _They opened a pair of double doors, to a crowd of Alteans. People of all ages cheered, clapped._ _Coran was there on the balcony with them. "People of Altea," he began. "the Daughters of Altea."_

 _T_ _he girl who pink-haired girl leaned to Coran and whispered through clenched teeth. "I don't remember agreeing on that name."_

 _Coran twirled his moustache. "I came up with it myself. King Alfor liked it."_

 _The dainty girl with orange hair smiled and patted Coran's shoulder. "It doesn't matter what we're called. We know what we're here to do."_

And then the vision ended.

Scrambling to his feet, Hunk called out.

"Coran! Allura!" He ran to the door, waving at Yellow. "Thank you, oh my gosh, thank you! I don't know what any of that means but I'm sure - " He opened the door- "It's very important and I'll use it!"

Shiro intercepted Hunk as he left the hangar. "Hunk! What's wrong?"

Hunk gestured wildly with his hands. "Yellow gave me a... vision, dude. Like a vision of Altea! And, Allura was there. Coran too, but like... there were a whole bunch of Alteans!"

Shiro's eyes widened. "We gotta talk to the rest of the team."

"...and there were other girls, and Coran, you called them the Daughters of Altea. What does that mean?"

Shiro had quickly gotten everyone into the lounge part of the castle, bright eyed and proclaiming Hunk had had a vision like some sort of apostle.

The color in Coran and Allura's faces had drained throughout Hunk's retelling, to the point where Shiro had needed to physically help Coran sit down.

Allura spoke first. "They... _we._.. were servants of the people. My father was the King, but it was the Daughters of Altea who created the public image."

"But why would the Yellow Lion show Hunk the Daughters of Altea?" Keith asked, shrugging his shoulders.

Coran spoke next, softly. It was such a stark difference from the usual Coran that all the Paladins paid close attention. "Because the Daughters of Altea were more than public servants, they were close to the Paladins of Voltron. They were family or loved ones, and they held secrets of Voltron." He looked down, and Shiro grasped his shoulder. "The Daughters of Altea were supposed to be vessels."

"Vessels?" Pidge asked.

"For the souls of the Lions." Coran shook his head. "But it failed."

Keith stood, and began to pace. "What happened? How do you move a soul?"

 _Red Paladin, please!_

 _The lions cried out to him. They were scared, terrified._

 _My Paladin has fallen!_

 _That was the blue lion. The last paladin, other than himself and Zarkon, had fallen._

 _King Alfor felt tears prick his eyes. His friends were falling around him. And his closest friend had turned on him._

 _With a mighty yell, he drove Red into the castle._

 _"Lions!" he reached out to them. "Bring your fallen paladins. Return to the castle."_

 _Allura was waiting in the hangar, her eyes wide. Alfor had already told her his plan._

 _She would take Red's soul._

 _"Meet me in the control room once you're finished." He told her. "I love you."_

 _"King Alfor!" The other Daughters of Altea ran to meet him as he ran out of the hangar. They were all in disarray. Some of them were soaked with blood. Some of it was their blood, most of it was from other Alteans. They must've been exhausted, tending to all the wounded. They looked at him expectedly. They didn't know. Their loved ones, their husbands and brothers, the Paladins. They were gone._

 _"The Paladins have fallen."_

 _They were too shocked to cry. They let out a few dry sobs._

 _King Alfor gathered them to him. His biological daughter, and the others, they were all like daughters to him. "I need to send the lions away. To keep them out of Zarkon's hands. I want to place their souls with people I can trust." He let them go, and they huddled together._

 _They were more than scared girls though, they were the bravest people he knew._

 _"I'd like to place the souls of the Lions in each of you. The Red Lion is already entrusting it's soul to Allura."_

 _They each agreed._

 _They ran, bloodied skirts held high, to the hangars._

 _Each of the Lions readily agreed, and began the transfer. Energy in each of its colors flowed between them._

 _Coran's panicked voice sounded over an intercom. "King Alfor! The Galra are on board!"_

 _"Lions! You must leave! Black Lion... secure your hangar!"_

 _The girls looked frightfully at him. "They're not done!" Yelled one._

 _"So be it." King Alfor murmured. "Daughters, to the Control room!" He turned and ran, and they followed him._

 _Only to be intercepted on the way by Galra soldiers. Zarkon's own people. They fought. Those girls were excellent with weapons._

 _Only Alfor and Allura made it. Every other girl was holding off a platoon, promising they'd make it._

 _"We must form Voltron!" Allura yelled._

 _Oh Allura, sweet child. She didn't know the Paladins were gone. She didn't realize what the Red Lion had done._

 _Gently, he held his daughter. She would carry the soul of the red Lion on. She collapsed in his arms at his touch._

 _"Coran, help me." He ordered, and Coran opened a cryopod, and gently the King placed the Princess inside._

 _"Coran, you next."_

 _Coran looked at him in shock. "King Alfor?"_

 _Alfor looked him in the eyes. "You've lost a son today, Coran. I will save your daughter. When we all wake, we'll see each other again."_

 _Coran nodded, and entered the pod._

 _But the other Daughters never made it._

 _And with them, the souls of the Lions were lost._


	5. Chapter 5

"Vessels for the Lion's souls?" Shiro mumbled incredulously.

Allura looked to Coran. "That's what Father was doing? Tying the red Lion to me?"

Coran nodded. "But since the process was never finished, there's no telling how much of the red Lion is actually a part of you."

"I could ask Red," Keith offered. "He... doesn't talk to me a lot, but he might help out here."

Pidge sighed. "But this still doesn't explain why the Yellow Lion showed this to Hunk! We're right back where we started."

"Unless the Daughters of Voltron are still around!" Hunk had an epiphany. "Souls are quintessence, right? And quintessence is like matter and can't be destroyed or created, so where does it go?"

This settled on the Paladins and the Alteans, as Hunk felt his bond with Yellow assure him he was right.

"What if the reason... Yellow sent me to find Elane, was because she's got a bit of his soul?" Hunk offered.

"Okay, but how did a soul travel from Altea..." Lance brought down his arms around an imaginary planet, then moved them perpendicularly, "to all the way over here?"

"My father chose the Daughters of Altea because we were similar to the Paladins. Kindred spirits, so to speak. I imagine when the other Daughters..." she paused. "...fell, the souls of the Lions must have passed on to similar souls."

"Which means in order for Elane to have the Yellow Lion's soul, she needs to be like the original Yellow Daughter." Lance concluded.

"Yellow Daughter?" Keith asked.

"Yellow Paladin, Yellow Daughter. Y'know." Lance folded his arms. "It works."

"That settles it." Shiro decided. "Coran and Allura will come with us when we meet up with Elane tomorrow. If she really does hold a part of the Yellow Lion, Coran and Allura would know."

The Paladins filed out, presumably to "talk" with their lions, sleep, or as Hunk was prone to doing - talking to their lions and then falling asleep in the hangar.

Coran and Allura didn't move. Hunk's speech had brought back painful memories for them. The Daughters had been Allura's friends, and Coran's own daughter had been a part of them.

"Are you going to tell them about Gale?" she asked quietly.

"If I talk about Gale, I'll have to talk about Garrett." he explained. "It's really your decision. You wanted to protect the Paladins from the dark history of Voltron."

Allura nodded. "I don't know what to do. But if this girl really does hold a part of the Yellow Lion, perhaps she could hold a part of Marin." she smiled sadly. "I've missed her."

 _A younger version of the tall Altean with the ruddy complexion and piercing amber eyes murmured as she bandaged the tail of a mouse._

 _"I'm sure Zarkon didn't mean to cut your tail." She insisted, as the mouse chattered angrily._ _"The training deck is a dangerous place to be when the Paladins are there."_

 _"Marin? You can understand mice?" Allura asked, excitement evident in her eyes._

 _Marin chuckled. "No, I can't, Princess. But it's not hard to imagine what they're saying if you think about how they feel." She let the mouse go, who immediately began to chew on its wrappings._ _"Oh, don't do that." she scolded. "Garrett took the time to bring you down here, little one."_

 _Princess Allura sat cross legged by her friend and gathered up the mouse. "You're so much more grown up than me." she pouted._

"Marin taught me a lot about empathy." she murmured, mostly to herself. "I hope she wasn't lost with Altea."

"I can't get over the fact the sun never goes down here." Pidge murmured, as the five paladins, Coran and Allura made their way through the forest again to the city.

"Yeah, it's totally throwing off my internal clock." Hunk complained. "Like, what time is it right now? I have no idea."

Coran looked to the sky. "I'd say it's about early morning." he pointed to a distant red mass. "That's the Taksgarrian moon, it has a wobbly orbit, so despite the surface of Taksgar being lit, the moon looks slightly different."

"Yeah, that's neat. Anyone see Elane?" Lance scanned the city center for the any sign of her among the Taksgarrians.

"She said she'd find us. And don't use her name, man." Hunk chided.

"Let's go enjoy the festival, then." Coran announced.

Making their way into the city center, the Taksgarrians stopped to stare at them. This time, the Paladins were much more aware of the golden eyes and square pupils following them.

Pidge was particularly uncomfortable with the stares. She looked around for any way to break the uncomfortable walk. "Hey, Shiro-" she tugged on his arm and pointed at what appeared to be some festival games, with small strange electronics as prizes. "Think you could win that?"

Shiro looked at her with uncertainty, so she whispered out of the side of her mouth. "If you're good, we attract a crowd. If there's a crowd, Elane can find us."

Shiro nodded solemnly before he forced a smile. "C'mon, guys. Let's play a game."

They came to a booth with a stack of cubes arranged in a pyramid. A spindly Taksgarrian blinked at them. "Uh... do you travelers have money...?"

"Ah." Shiro said quietly. "We don't."

There was an awkward pause before an elderly Taksgarrian from a nearby booth set a coin shaped like a plus sign down on the counter. "I'd just like to see you play." she insisted.

Shiro thanked her, taking one of the four balls the teenager behind the counter gave him, whipping it towards the pyramid. The blocks all fell.

"Yeah, Shiro!" Pidge cheered.

The teenager handed him a flat blue square. "You, uh... press here to activate it."

Shiro handed it to the elderly Taksgarrian. "I don't really have a use for this anyway."

The lady smiled at him and pressed on the blue square. There was a loud crack and the pieces moved into the shape of a strange, fluffy animal with long ears and two legs.

That seemed to break the spell. Taksgarrians of all ages set down coins, and Shiro won them prizes. The other Paladins sat back and watched.

"What kind of animal is that?" Hunk asked as a little Taksgarrian ran by with something that looked like a cross between a puppy and a lizard.

Coran took it upon himself to answer. "Well, it's a Lachu, they're present all over this system, they-"

"Nevermind that. Look." Kieth pointed. In-between two teenage Taksgarrian girls fawning over Shiro (to the chagrin of Lance) was Elane.

Shiro noticed too. With a final heave, he knocked down the blocks a final time, handing the square to a little boy. He nodded at Elane, walking towards the Paladins with a wave to the booth owner, who was now almost cleared of his prizes.

"You found us." Keith murmured as she shuffled over them.

"I don't have a lot of time. The Mayor needs me at his booth. I only got away for a minute." She whispered quickly.

"Are you the Yellow Lion?" Lance demanded.

She stared at him blankly. "...no?"

Allura smiled sympathetically. "I'm Princess Allura." she paused, as if considering something. "By any chance do you... recognise me?"

"...no, I'm sorry, am I supposed to?" Elane asked, worry in her voice. "I don't know what you're asking about."

Solemn looks crossed everyone's faces. Keith looked a little frustrated.

"I'm sorry, I really don't have time. I'm sorry for what happened at the Mayor's house, he doesn't like me talking about my... ancestry. My parents were doctors, from earth. They were captured by Galra, but in a prisoner transfer they escaped."

Shiro flexed his robotic arm instinctively.

"I have their journals, but I don't even know their full names. I know humans have two or mor-"

She stopped and looked beyond them, panic welling in her eyes. "It's them, they're coming this way. I need to go."

Reflexively, Allura grabbed her wrist. "Don't-"

Elane's wrist flew up to protect her face.

There was silence as the pieces fit together for each of the Paladins.

 _The way she flinched when Keith yelled at her._

 _The way she shied away from Shiro's hand on her shoulder._

 _The apologies._

 _The fear._

 _The secrecy._

 _The way she shielded her face when Allura grabbed her wrist._

"Elane, who's been hitting you?" Hunk's voice was low, almost a growl.

She shook her head wildly. "What- no one-"

Lance took a fighting stance. "Only a coward hits a lady."

"It's the Mayor, isn't it?" Keith asked.

The Mayor had now spotted Elane with the Paladins. He was making his way over, all four arms clenched in fists.

"We'll protect you." Shiro assured, stepping in front of her.

Elane had entirely shut down. She was frozen in place, her breath quick and her heart beating at a jackhammer pace.

"Elane, he won't hurt you." Allura assured. "We won't let him."

"He's going to be mad, he's going to take my journals..." she stammered, clutching at her shirt.

"We'll stop him here. Then you can grab your books." Hunk assured her, grabbing his Bayard.

"He'll burn my parents' journals if I make him upset." Elane's voice was panicked, filled with fear.

"Shiro and Lance can hold off the Mayor." Pidge reasoned. "We can take you to his house. We'll get your journals and all your stuff, you can come with us."

Elane shook her head. "I can't! I can't leave the Mayor, I'm a human! I can't survive on my own-"

"Elane."

In a voice that the Paladins had only experience a few times, Hunk spoke, turning completely to face Elane. "You're right, you're human, like us. And humans are strong. Not whatever this jerk has told you. I mean, Shiro just won like 15 toys for all those people, and we've fought robots and monsters. Lance and Shiro are about to throw down with a four armed alien. We're strong, and so are you."

The words seemed to strike a chord with her. She nodded.

"Now let's get your stuff."

 **A/N: Woo! This chapter was a hard one to write. I hope you enjoyed it, and please review? It means a lot, and gives me motivation. I hope all the new character names weren't too confusing!**


	6. Chapter 6

Hunk, Pidge and both Alteans took off with Elane in the direction of the Mayor's home. Pidge and Hunk activated their bayards as they all took to surrounding Elane to shield her from harm.

"I don't have a lot," she explained. "But the journals, I need to get the journals."

Meanwhile, Shiro, Lance and Keith prepared to square off against the Mayor. He was definitely middle aged, but with four arms and standing a good head above Shiro, he wasn't anyone to take lightly.

"Where's my daughter?" the Mayor demanded.

"She's not your daughter." Lance replied. "And you're not getting her back."

"What are you talking about?" he hissed. "She's mine!" He lunged at Lance with his left two fists, and the lanky paladin was able to jump out of the way, but lost his balance in the process.

The crowd scattered, older Taksgarrians grabbing children and siblings to run. Lance landed on his back ungracefully, and he winced as a rock tore into his lower back. The black parts of the armor were softer than the rest, and he mentally cursed the Altean designer. Where did Alteans keep their vital organs, the legs?

No longer buffeted by the surging crowd, the Mayor raced to Lance again to pound his skull into the ground. Lance struggled to get up as Keith's sword intercepted a fist that would have connected with his face. The Mayor moved to throw another fist. Blocked by Keith's shield.

He went to throw a third.

"Lance, get up!" Keith demanded, preparing to dive away.

Lance mumbled something affirmative, shakily getting to his feet.

Keith dove, breaking his fall with a roll to the Mayor's left, distracting him.

That was Shiro's window. With a grunt, Shiro connected his shield with the Mayor's side, throwing him off balance.

Lance fired off a shot into the Mayor, striking him in the shoulder. His upper right arm now immobile, he became angrier.

"She's mine!" He roared, swiping again at Keith, who dodged, but the Mayor grabbed at his sword, throwing Keith with it into Shiro, who tumbled.

Elane grabbed a cloth bag and began to take books from the shelf, examining their covers before putting them in.

"What else do you want to bring?" Hunk asked. "We can help."

"My... supplies." she decided. "They're in the infirmary room." A cold look crossed her eyes. "I collected those. I don't want him using them."

Hunk nodded. "I'll get them."

Pidge volunteered to help, grabbing a bag as well. Allura and Coran offered to help with books.

Elane carefully handed Coran the now full, sack of books. Tears pricked at her eyes. "Thank you."

Coran smiled. "It's no problem, Ms. Elane. We're just happy to get you out of here."

Lance fired again, running to take cover behind the carnival booth game. He fired off a few more shots, managing to hit the Mayor with two more.

The Mayor stalked over to Shiro and Keith, picking up Shiro by the neck. "Where. is. She." he demanded.

Keith swept his sword at the Mayor's ankles. It sliced his flesh, causing the Mayor to scream and drop Shiro. Recovering quickly, Shiro tackled him to the ground. With three arms out of service, the Mayor was forced down. Shiro planted a boot firmly in his back. Keith and Lance ran to assist, pointing their weapons at the Mayor.

"She was never your daughter." Shiro repeated. "She was never a part of your family." His boot dug deeper. "No father would hit his child."

"She needs me, she'll be back." the Mayor spat.

"You _hit_ her." Keith repeated.

"I had to keep her in line!" the Mayor reasoned.

Shiro said nothing, hitting a button on his gauntlet. "Got it." He looked to his teammates. "That was practically a confession. With this recording and whatever Pidge and Hunk can find, that should be enough evidence to incriminate him. No matter where we are, that's unacceptable."

Hunk and Pidge returned from the infirmary, jars balanced in Pidge's arms and small packets of herbs and seeds in the larger bag in Hunk's arms. Coran and Allura held about 7 or 8 books, with Elane holding a smaller bag containing her clothes, a brush and some small nicknacks she'd acquired.

All in all, it wasn't much. And most of it were consumable items, like the herbs and seeds that Pidge was trying desperately to decrypt the labels on.

"There's a town a few days from here. This should all fit on the Mayor's Valent." Elane was wringing her hands, still anxious. "I can take her with me."

"Whoa, wait." Hunk shifted the bag onto one hip. "I don't know what a Valent is, some kind of animal?" -Elane nodded at this- "But we need to make sure you'll be somewhere safe."

The Taksgarrian police were slow to arrive to the scene, but arrived nonetheless. They chuckled at the state of the Mayor, before turning to Shiro, Lance and Keith.

"So," the (presumably) captain of the group asked. "What started this?"

"We're protecting E-" Shiro stopped himself. " _His daughter-_ " The words tasted bitter in his mouth - "from him."

"He was going to beat her." Keith added.

"Yeah, and he attacked us!" Lance tacked on, still holding a hand to where the stone had bruised and torn at his back.

"He's beating that human daughter of his?" The officer clarified.

"We have evidence." Shiro insisted.

"I'm more concerned with the fact that you're holding his daughter. Return her."

All three paladins immediately shot back cries of "no." Keith might have even swore.

The officer's face crumpled into a scowl. "Get off my planet. We never asked for you paladins, or for you to come here and start taking our property."

"Property? She's a girl!" Shiro was burning with a righteous fury, and his hand began to glow.

"Shiro." Keith stopped him. "We know Elane's safe right now. Let's go." He gave the Taksgarrians a dirty look before turning.

"We're all worried you won't be safe there." Pidge expressed. "What if the Mayor comes for you?"

"It's my only choice." Elane admitted. "I can't live on my own out here."

Allura looked to Coran, who nodded. "Elane, would you like to come with us?"

Elane blinked. "I... I don't know."

"Coran myself and the Paladins don't believe it's chance we were led here. You're part of something important, and we'd like to figure it out." Allura explained.

Coran winked. "Plus, I'm a little tired of being the Chief Medical Officer without any other staff."

"Medical staff? Are you warriors?" Elane's voice was laced with confusion, but excitement.

"We can show you." Hunk offered. "We have a castle and everything."

"A castle?"

"Will you come with us?" Allura repeated.

Shouts were heard from outside the house, and Elane let out a little cry, before realizing it was Lance's voice, coming from the Paladin's helmets and the internal com. "We gotta go! The police are probably headed to the house right now."

"What? But we're the good guys!" Hunk groaned.

"Get to the castle. Try to lay low." Shiro ordered.

Elane shouldered her bag. "Yeah."

"What?" Hunk looked at her.

"I said yes." she smiled softly, and Hunk felt a silly grin spreading over his face too. "I'll go with you."

...

 ** _A/N: Hey there! Sorry about the break in-between these past two chapters, I've been swamped with homework and with my school's musical. Which is this weekend, so next week should begin more frequent updates to this story. Thank you for your likes and follows, and Mae as always for her reviews. Reviews are what fuel me, so maybe take a moment to type in that little box?_**


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